mercredi 26 novembre 2014

First tank problems

Hello all,



I'd like to start of by thanking anyone who is able to give us some good advice on solving our problem. I have wanted a fish tank for years and my fiance and I recently got involved in trying to get our set up going.





We were recently gifted a 40 gallon tank and stand. It was previously used for a planted freshwater aquarium. Previous owners let the tank go and it eventually sat in a garage for about a year.



After acquiring the tank, it had some residue and build-up on the sides which needed to be scrubbed off. I spent a few hours with a scrub pad and graduated to cleaner to help get it clean. We let the tank sit for a day and visited our local marine fish store to get advice on how to go further. The gentleman at the store was very knowledgeable and excellent in getting us started. So about 30 hours after I had used the cleaner we began the set up process.



We purchased, bio-sand (Fiji pink live sand), pre-made salt water, cured live rock and an aquatop cf400 uv canister filter. We put the sand in, then the water, then the live rock. Turned the filter on, followed all the instructions that came with the filter (rinsing off the carbon and bio agents ect.) and got it running. Then we let the tank sit for 48 hours. We went back to the store, had our water tested and everything tested out great. We purchased 3 baby Picasso clown fish. Took them home, followed instructions on floating them in the water in order to acclimate them and then added them into the tank. The following day they died about mid day. We came home tonight, took those back to the store, had the water tested again... Looked all fine.. Again... He kindly credited us the clown fish and gave us 2 blennies (I believe is what they were called).



He told us they were a bit stronger in new environments and would be good to start building the environment and test to see if they lasted. We again floated them in the water 30 minutes to let them get acclimated to the temperature and the tank then released them. They went up to the top where there was a slight cloudy residue (which the gentleman at the store assured us was normal for an initial setup); they appeared to be eating off of the top. The clowns immediately stayed near the bottom of the tank but did eventually venture out to the rest of the tank and the top so we took this to be a good sign. We kept an eye on them considering what happened with the first fish. Within about five minutes the first fish sank down to the bottom and appeared to be gasping. A minute or two later, the other fish did the same thing and about three minutes later, they both perished.



We would like to know if anyone has any advice for us on this matter. The gentleman at the store mentioned that we could completely drain the water, rinse everything, and it could be fine as a worst case scenario. Considering that the water tested normal, he is going to run better tests for it in a few days, after the holiday, but we would like to know if there is anything that we could do in the interim.



Has anyone ever heard about this happening before? We are open to any advice that anyone may give. We would love some advice on how you may start over and any pointers that you may give us.



We are very excited about starting our first tank and would like to be successful. At this point, we are wondering if we are going to need to completely scrap our investment and start over...maybe in a few months when we have the resources to do so...again...




Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire